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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Prince George's County Fire/Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Department received a vote of confidence from Chief Billy Goldfeder in that we are moving in the right direction for Firefighter Safety. Chief Billy Goldfeder is a well known fire safety advocate and the man behind the The Secret List, an independent newsletter produced since 1998 by Chief Billy Goldfeder in an effort to bring forward the issues involving injury and death to us...often issues that are ignored, quickly forgotten or just not talked about.

TSL is e-mailed at no charge and produced as time allows. With the attitude that in order for us to survive the dangers of the job, they must learn how we have had "Close Calls" and even been injured or killed, TSL brings forward issues in an effort to enforce that philosophy-and get us to refocus on "what's important."

The logo in which he refers is the new "PGFD - SAFETY FIRST - Everyone Goes Home" is credited to Acting Fire Chief Marc Bashoor and was designed by Jeff Callaway, an Administrative Assistant in the Office of the Fire Chief. The logo will be affixed to all new county apparatus and to just about anything else we can attach it to.

Here are the encouraging words from Fire Chief Billy Goldfeder

"Amongst the biggest city FD's....

First, Fire Commissioner Sal Cassano and the FDNY's bosses had the "brass" to initiate positive and no nonsense and enforced "firefighter safety, health and survival" culture change.... now Commissioner Bobby Hoff and staff in Chicago set the tone for that FD as well.

Slowly but surely, the "dumb" ways that FF's unnecessarily (NOT, by any means, the heroic stuff that sometimes must be done, but the avoidable dumb stuff) get hurt or killed are changing or leaving the job with those who retire along with it. From the big cities such as Baltimore effecting numerous new "survival" policies to the numerous small cities and towns, positive and measurable progress is being made in saving FF's from getting hurt or killed unnecessarily. Some FD's even have it on their logo-to "in your face" remind their members daily, such as the below emblem from Prince George's County, MD FD, that was redesigned.

Keep in mind, as outstanding as any of these numerous initiatives are, if they are not taught to, genuinely bought into and carried out by the FIRST LINE fire officers (being held fully accountable) along with the FF's, it won't work.

Note in the Chicago video, when CFD Chaplain Father Mulcrone states "The last thing you ever want is me knocking on your families door at 3 am....

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LODD April 15, 2016

Fire Fighter/Medic Lieutenant John "Skillet" Ulmschneider

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Tragically firefighters will find pets that have been injured in home fires. Sometimes owners are not availiable to bring their pet to a emergency vet or may not have the resources to afford medical care. The Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department and the Anne Arundel County SPCA have teamed up and created a fund whereas medical care for the pet would be covered in part or in full.
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